Orrin Hatch, Senate Finance Committee chair, is retiring this year

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) will not be running for reelection in 2018, the 83-year-old Senate veteran announced Tuesday, opening the field for Republicans like Mitt Romney to run for his seat. In November, Hatch, who would be 90 by the end of another term, said he had plans to run again, citing his reluctance to give up his position in Republican leadership. Evidently his mind has changed. “Every good fighter knows when to hang up the gloves. And for me, that time is soon approaching,” Hatch, who came to Congress in 1976, said. Hatch himself escalated a possible Mitt Romney run; he has since been poised to campaign for the seat. Reports of Trump trying to convince Hatch to run for reelection closely followed — likely the president’s attempt to avoid having a loud anti-Trumper like Romney in the Senate.